Working from home

Yahoo's decision to curtail remote working among its employees has stirred dismay in the technology industry at a time when many companies are innovating new solutions to enable telecommuting. ... Foursquare Co-Founder Dennis Crowley also emphasized the need for balance: "It is great to offer employees the flexibility that If they need to be off for a day or so, or for an afternoon, that's totally fine. "We try to get as many people together in the office as possible because that's where stuff gets done. People hang out in the lunch room, and they hang out in the hallways and in different meeting rooms. You are more productive when people are all together, but I think you need to have a little bit of flexibility. CNN

I hope our company doesn’t get any ideas. I just came off a company that frowned on anything resembling working off site. They wanted us to fly at night so we could work both days on either side.

It sounds like the order at Yahoo is to people who only work from home. it sounds like people who are just plane out of the office for good need to make it into the office on a regular basis. I remember another story about all hands meetings on Friday at 14:30 to make sure people were not skipping out.

It almost sounds like Yahoo had adopted a French work ethic. I’ve heard people say that some French take pride in getting away with as little work as possible and thinking that “Working is for suckers.”

I do not have a place set up for working from home. I need to come up with a table, chair, connection and a clear working environment to get things done at home. My old computer desk would work. I just need to clear it off and prepare it for use as a homework station.

That article doesn’t talk about productivity. Some people work better in groups. Some not. Some professions probably lend themselves to working from home more than others. In IT, you cannot work from home. There are wires to be plugged and switches to be thrown. Automobile mechanics need a shop as well. Sales, however, seem like a good candidate for not needing an office visit every day.

Here is an NPR story on the subject.